Pruitt is a much more desirable candidate to Tennessee fans than Greg Schiano, whom they previously reached a deal with that was cancelled. Pruitt is young, proven as a defensive coordinator in the SEC, and he played in the SEC.

The 43-year-old has been stellar replacing Kirby Smart as Bama’s DC. Prior to that, he did excellent work as Georgia’s DC under Mark Richt and Florida State’s DC under Jimbo Fisher.

Tennessee is undoubtedly hoping to get the same results Georgia got after they hired Smart away from under Nick Saban.